A Not-So Accidental Meeting
by VaderObiWan
Summary: A short story about an almost accidental meeting between Klaus and Caroline. May add some more chapters later. Includes minimal angst and some fluff. Rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

Caroline was practically foaming in her frustration at the world. Her hair, straightened today for ease, swung around her face as she spun on the spot, yet again. She was hunting down the items scrawled across a crinkled shopping list, carelessly written by her mother before she ran to work on 'desperate business concerning the local wildlife'. The Sheriff had insisted that the items must be gathered _exactly _to her specifications, meaning that the 'double whip, no fat cream' Caroline had just picked up would have to be replaced by 'double whip, _low_ fat cream' a little ways down the aisle.

Caroline was honestly considering calling Elena and Bonnie to come along and suffer with her. At least then they could turn the experience into a gossip marathon which would undoubtedly last for the next few hours. After a few moments of inner debate, Caroline decided.

With a huff and well-timed wrist flick, Caroline performed her well practiced move of simultaneously reaching into her back pocket to smoothly remove her phone and tuck her hair behind her ear in what she knew was a cute, no nonsense manner. With that, Caroline unlocked the screen and began trawling through her contacts.

In the split second that her finger hovered over Elena's name, a sultry, familiar and thoroughly hated voice whispered over her shoulder, "What are you doing here, love?"

_Earlier..._

Klaus was bored, and had been bored ever since Elijah announced that he was going to be out of town for a few days. He'd said something about fulfilling promises to beautiful young witches. The younger brother hadn't really been paying attention after he'd realised that there would be no one to keep him occupied over the week. Klaus still couldn't understand the need for Elijah to be so unbearably _predictable, _even if he did come to rely on Elijah's promise-keeping nature from time to time.

In a self-imposed defiance against Elijah's firm and yet unnecessary insistence to "stay out of trouble", Klaus decided to go out for a drink. Should he go for a blond, he thought, or a brunette?

As he parked his car in the next town over's large and consumer orientated shopping centre a half an hour later, he briefly caught the fruity scent of a certain young blond vampire. Caught between reacting ecstatically over finally having something to do and strangely feeling a sense of unease coiling in his gut, Klaus warily made his way inside, quickly abandoning his plan for a quick snack.

The shopping centre was unusually quiet for a Saturday afternoon. A few mothers grabbed their children's wrists and pulled them aside as he strode by and a few teenaged girls tittered to each other, frantically slapping shoulders and pointing in his direction. All of them blushed deliciously when he glanced over and provided them with a casual smirk.

He was about to walk over and compell a drink from them when he heard_ her_. She was frustrated by the sounds of it, whispering curses to her mother and unconsciously tapping her foot in a steady rhythm on the floor. He heard the sounds of crinkling paper and packaging and the quiet thump of someone returning an object to a shelf non too gently. His head jerked in direction the sounds came from. A supermarket of all places. Definitely not Caroline's usual choice of stores.

Lengthening his stride and quickening his pace, he made it to the entry in seconds, ignoring the disappointed sigh the teenagers released in the wake of his departure.

As Klaus entered the shop, he sauntered past an assistant stacking baskets and another restocking already full shelves with gossip magazines. After a few seconds of weaving past shoppers and listening for Caroline's increasingly frustrated breaths, he saw her. She was standing with a piece of paper in one hand and a small tub of cream in the other, her golden hair sliding across her bare, hunched shoulders. Shoving the cream back into the fridge, Caroline huffed angrily before cocking her hip to pull her phone from her back pocket. Klaus watched in fascination as she used her long, elegant fingers to tuck her hair back at the same time, a ring glinting in the artificial light.

Without bothering to wait for her to finish finding whatever she was looking for on the tiny screen, Klaus silently slid up behind her before whispering in his sexiest tone, making sure to add on his trademark nickname.

Caroline jumped before spinning furiously to face Klaus, hair flying from its hold behind her ear to swish around her face. Cheeks flushed and brow pinched, she hissed in reply, "Klaus! What are _you_ doing here?" Even more infuriating was the fact that all he offered in response was a lopsided smirk and head tilt that Caroline refused to consider adorable.

"Well?" She pressed.

"Just a chance meeting is all, love. I was hoping to get a drink when I heard your rather furious shopping expedition. What did that cream ever do to you?" He leapt backwards with a laughing grin when she swung the hand holding her forgotten phone gracelessly towards his face.

"Careful, that phone looks expensive." He said while taking the step back towards Caroline, infuriating smirk still gracing his handsome features.

Digging the heel of her boot in the ground, Caroline spun to face the shelves again, decidedly ignoring the warm flush spreading across her cheeks. "Whatever, you've found me. What do you want?" Caroline was careful to apply her best bored tone in the hopes that he would decide that bullying her was not worth his time.

"Don't be like that, love, I'm only here to help." His grin fading until only his lips pressed together in quiet amusement. "Now, I'm assuming that your problem has something to do with that list in your hand. Why is little Miss Mystic Falls doing grocery shopping so far out of town?"

From his vantage point behind Caroline, he was able to see the way her shoulders bunched up towards her ears before she forcibly relaxed them. "Just a change of scenery and a need to grab some things that Mystic Falls doesn't stock." The words came out partially mumbled and with a carefully casual lilt.

"Oh?" Came Klaus's measured reply, "This wouldn't have something to do with Tyler being away for a few weeks, would it now?"

Caroline's silence was all the answer he needed.

"Don't worry, love, I'm sure you two will patch things up in no time. He would be a fool to ignore one such as you for too long." He spoke with a smile and forced joviality. No matter his dislike for the Lockwood werewolf, Caroline was clearly upset and he had a feeling that Tyler was the cause.

Caroline shook her head, "I don't think that will be the case this time."

They stood in silence for a few moments, Klaus understanding that now would be the time to apologise to Caroline, or steer the conversation to happier topics but unable to bring himself past his annoyance at Tyler.

Her moment of self-pity gone, Caroline seemed to shake herself and glance back down at the list in her hand, forgotten and half crumpled.

"Well this has been yet another lovely conversation, but I have more important things to be doing than ruin my day by looking at your face. Later." Picking the basket from the ground beside her, Caroline marched away from Klaus, determinedly not looking back in his direction.

This was one of the things he admired about Caroline, her desire to push past all hints of sadness by insulting the object of her dislike, even if it turned out to be, more often than not, himself whom her accusations were directed at.

Pleasantly discovering his boredom to have disappeared, Klaus made to leave the store. However, before he'd even made the boundary, his amusement rapidly increased on witnessing the sight of Caroline turning her rampage on the poor boy behind the checkout.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Well this originally started out with the idea of being a collection of non-related one-shots. It has now evolved into the beginnings of a story slightly longer than that. I'll try to update as often as possible, however university is starting soon which is sure to be a hectic time. **

**Also, forgive me if the characters seem a bit OOC. I do my best but Klaus is a pretty complicated character as I'm sure you all know.**

**Anyway, enjoy :)**

It had now, unfortunately, reached the three week mark since Tyler had last been present in Mystic Falls, a fact which Caroline was feeling the full brunt of. He and Caroline had communicated via texts for a while, however that had ended abruptly with a clear dismissal. The simple message of "Dear Caroline, don't know when I'll be back. Don't wait for me." still made her heart clench and her stomach drop in fear. No matter how many desperate calls she made and frantic voicemails she'd left, Tyler had yet to ease her worry and pain. The last voicemail she'd left was two days ago, when Caroline had decided that she was acting like the overly attached girlfriend who nobody liked.

In yet another attempt to distract herself, Caroline had gone on a wild shopping spree with both Bonnie and Elena under the guise of helping Elena settle into her new vampire life. They had waltzed from shop to shop, buying pretty much anything that caught their eyes. Caroline, needless to say, had left with arms full of clothes, thankful of her recently acquired vampire strength. Her purchases now lay in almost-glamorous piles around her bedroom; a glittery dress thrown over her rumpled bed sheets, a pair of dark jeans over the back of a chair.

From her position at the window, Caroline looked down at the boots and lacy underwear that blocked her path to the door. With a resigned sigh, she gracefully nudged away a shoe which lay directly in her path before deciding to just wade through it all. At reaching her goal of freedom Caroline cast a half-hearted glance back into her bedroom, wondering if it would be against Stefan's high and mighty rules to simply compell someone to clean it up for her. How easy life would be with no morals.

Of course to add to her concerns, Caroline had yet to forget her last meeting with the original hybrid. The way his eyes had glinted in amusement at finding her grocery shopping simultaneously troubled her and sent thrills down her spine.

Shaking her head to clear the unwanted thoughts, Caroline moved from her doorway to the foyer, suddenly desperate to leave the quiet stillness of her house. Grabbing the jacket she had shucked off on arriving home, Caroline yanked open the door and stepped out into the slowly cooling afternoon. However, before she had even made it to her car, a sharp, cold pain blossomed in the side of her neck followed by a numbing sensation that spread through her limbs.

_Vervain. _

Spinning around, she lashed out at her attackers only to find her arms grabbed and pinned down beside her as her body was gently lowered to the ground.

"This is her, yeah?" A masculine voice questioned.

"Without a doubt. Blond, chirpy and a vampire? She fits the description to a tee." This time it was a feminine voice which spoke.

Caroline willed her eyes to open, to at least get a glimpse of her assailants. All she could see when she finally managed to force her eyelids open, however, were two large fuzzy blobs that swam in her vision before the blackness of unconsciousness overwhelmed her.

Klaus, contrary to seemingly everyone's beliefs, could sometimes be predictable. These certain situations were rather rare though, and usually occurred in attendance with either his family, namely Elijah and Rebecca, or a beautiful young blond vampire.

So when Klaus followed his usual route to the Salvatore house, the one that passed the street adjacent to Caroline's, he was greeted with an extremely unwelcome sight.

Caroline, his beautiful strong vampire, was being manhandled unconscious into the backseat of a car by a man while a woman walked around the car to the driver's side.

Klaus, again reverting to the more predictable side of personality simply reacted with all the fury and strength he could muster as the strongest of the Original siblings.

Blurring towards the woman first, he dug his fingers into the sides of her scalp, latched on to her hair and twisted, messily ripping her head from her body. Bloodied and ruined, her body fell to the ground, spraying the pavement with muck and dirtying the side of the car. Klaus dropped the woman's head and ran around the car to the man whose hands were now held in front of him in a gesture of surrender.

Klaus let his anger and bloodlust swell, feeling his eyes change in the manner which all hybrids shared.

"Pray tell, what is the meaning of this?" Klaus demanded, rage blackening his tone.

"Was just orders, I swear!" Came the panicked response.

"Orders?" Klaus questioned again. He took a step forward, bringing his clawed hand up in preparation to thrust into the man's chest. "Who's orders?"

The man's fear-filled eyes rapidly darted down to glance at Caroline's prone form before opening his mouth to respond.

Before he could utter even a single word, a muffled moan came from the direction of the car. Klaus jerked his head down to look at Caroline. She had one hand placed softly on her forehead, the other was prodding the tender spot at the side of her neck.

"What the hell?" The words seemingly fell from her lips before she pressed them together in faint annoyance. "Who's car is this?"

As Klaus fully turned towards her and lowered the arm outstretched towards the man, he heard a whoosh. He didn't even have to look to know that the man, apparently a vampire, had taken his momentary lapse to run away.

"Caroline, love, how are you feeling?" Klaus asked in a tone that could be called gentle by him.

"Like I was drugged by some criminals and stuffed in the back of a car like old luggage." She retorted with none of the gentleness Klaus had shown her.

"Well that's only to be expected, isn't it? Come on then, let's get you inside."

"Thanks, but no thanks.," was Caroline's expected reply, "I'd rather sit here all day then be helped by you."

"Now, love, don't be like that. Here I am trying to be a gentleman and all you do is insult me." Klaus's words were softened by the amused smirk he displayed.

Caroline's sharp glare was again the typical response Klaus had expected.

"Ok, ok, fine. At least let me walk you to your room?" This was asked with his head tilted to the side.

Rebecca had once remarked that his head tilt made him look like a kicked puppy and that if he ever wanted to keep his reputation he should never use it again in her presence.

Caroline let out a deep sigh before agreeing. She still didn't take his outstretched hand though, preferring to use the car door as leverage to boost her from the seat.

The trip to her room was exhausting in more ways than one. Firstly, she was still recovering from the effects of the vervain in her system. Thankfully her healing time had been reduced greatly with her daily ingesting of the herb. Each step was still too slow compared to her usual walking speed though.

The second issue was that Klaus walked with one hand hovering over the small of back and one lifted away from his side. When she had glared at him and then at his arm, he'd insisted that it was just in case she felt too dizzy to stay upright. She'd declared that he was being a mother hen.

Coming to her room, Klaus reached for the doorknob, twisted it, and gently pushed it open as far as it would go. Under the door it appeared that a remnant of Caroline's recent shopping trip blocked any of its further movement. Caroline could see in her peripheral vision how Klaus's eyes trailed up from the floor in front of them, over the underwear and shoes scattered around the ground, to rest on the bed, where by far the majority of clothes lay.

She turned her gaze at the same time he turned his. When their eyes met, he deliberately raised an eyebrow before opening his mouth in what was about to become a sarcastic comment.

"Oh, shove it." Caroline spat out before he could make a sound, a flush rising up her cheeks. "Technically I'm still a teenage girl. I'm _supposed_ to over shop."

"If by over shop you mean buy the contents of three shopping malls then I can see why you were reluctant to invite me up here."

Caroline swatted at Klaus's chest for that comment, ignoring the way his grin lit up his face. "You've got what you wanted. I'm safe in my room. You can leave now."

Still smiling slightly from her casual touch, Klaus turned away to leave Caroline to her thoughts, but not before murmuring, "I hope that your wardrobe is large enough to hold all of your purchases. If not I can always show you my bedroom."

He ducked the shoe thrown at his head and blurred from the house, smirking in amusement. He had hybrids to call and a car for them to clean.


End file.
